Nail-holding device.



PATENTED AUG. 11, 1903.

G. HORTON. NAIL HOLDING DEVICE. AYPLIOATION FILED JUNE K1903.

no MODEL.

L ri-7.4.

WITNESSE IINI/EJVTOR,

B y r UNITED STATES Patented August 1 1, 196s.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE HoRroN, or AUSTIN, PENNSYLVANIA;

NAIL-HOLDING DEVlCl-f.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 735,877, dated August ll, l902 Application filed June 8, 1903. Serial No. 160,607. (No model) T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Austin, in the county of Potter and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Nail-Holdin g Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to new and useful devices for holding nails to hammers while being driven,-and more particularly to that class wherein a nailvholdin g device is as sociated with a hammer-head.

One of the objects of my invention isto provide a simple, inexpensive, and effective attachment of the character named by means of which the head of the nail may be held in contact with the side of the hammer-head, whereby the nail may be started by a blow with the side of the hammer-head and at the same time automatically released from the device by the force of the blow.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character specified which will also act as a guard to the hammer-head and effectually prevent its becoming loosened or disconnected from the handle of the ham-.

mer.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention capable of carrying the same into practicaloperation,andwhile certain modifications of form will obviously suggest themselves, yet they come well within the scope of my inven tion as disclosed and claimed, and I do not, therefore, desire to be limited to the exact construction and arrangement shown.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hammer equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of the device removed from the hammer.

Like numerals indicate like parts in the drawings.

1 designates a piece of wire, which is bent to form an oblong U-shaped slot, enlarged at 3 to admit of the passing of a screw 4:, by means of which one end of thedevice is secured to the handle of the hammer. The ends of the wire are then carried back on themselves onehalf of the distance of the U -shaped slot, then reversed and carried in the original direction, thus forming a double U, and thence over the head of the hammer and inserted in holes 5 in the end of the hammer-handle. The bending of the wire in the form suggested and shown by the drawings is for the purpose of lending resiliency to the entire device, and

more particularly to the part forming the U shaped slot 2, in order that any size of nails may be used and that the nail-heads may more easily slip through the slot 2 when a blow is struck with the side of the hammer-head for the purpose of starting the nail held in the slot. The portion forming the U-shaped slot 2 is also slightly bent outward from the hammer, as shown at 6, in order that the nails may be more readily placed in the slot. By means of the screw 4 and the ends 7 being inserted in the holes 5 in the end of the hammer-handle the device is held firmly and securely in place without other means and in such a manner as to prevent the hammer-head from slipping from or being thrown off the handle.

In operation the nails are placed in the slot 2 with the heads thereof resting against the side of the hammer-head. A slight blow of the hammer suffices to start the nail in the wood and the effect of the concussion is to release the nail from the U-shaped slot be cause of the spreading of the wire forming the slot.

Having thus described my said invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a nailreceiving slot secured .at the lower end to the hammer-handle and with the upper ends passing over the hammer-head and into holes'in the end of the hammerhandle. Y

2. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a U-shaped slot secured at the lower end to the hammer-handle, the ends of the wire carried back on themselves one-half of the distance of the U-shaped slot, then reversed and carried in the original direction forming a double U and thence passing over the hammer-head and into holes in the end of the hammer-handle.

3. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a nail-holding slot enlarged at the lower end thereof, and thence bent to form a plurality of shorter slots on each side with the ends of the wire projecting over the hammer-head.

4. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent into a series of U-shaped slots with the center slot extending below the others and secured at the lower end to the handle of the hammer and with the ends of the wire projecting over the head of the hammer.

5. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a U-shaped slot secured at the lower end to the hammer-handle, the ends of the wire carried back on themselves one-half of the distance of the U-shaped slot, then reversed and carried in the opposite direction forming a double U, thence projecting over the head of the hammer.

6. The combination with a hammer of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a U-shaped slot secured at the lower end to the hammer-handle, the ends carried back on themselves, then reversed and carried in the opposite direction forming a donble U thence projecting over the head of the hammer.

7. The combination with a hammer, of a nail-holding device consisting of a wire bent to form a nail-holding slot enlarged at the lower end and thence bent to form a plurality of shorter slots on each side of the center slot with the ends of the wire projecting, over the hammer-head and into holes in the end of the hammer-handle.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

GEORGE HORTON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES S. LEWIS, E. B. YARGER. 

